Baptism of Fire 80 Host Bid - Mertagne.

[Mertagne]

ALWAYS FOOTBALL ALL THE TIME
Mertagne bids for their third BoF in a row. Who do they think they are? Vilita?

FORMAT:
From my quick manual count, we currently have 15 BoF signups. Based on previous BoFs and anticipating a post-RLWC surge in new signups, I believe we can make it to 32 signups, and I anticipate 24 at a minimum. I would actively be looking to work with the eventual World Cup hosts on closing signups for either tournament at an appropriate time should I be accepted to host this tournament.

A single round robin group stage format prioritising large groups will be utilised if I win this bid. For example, assuming that a minimum of 24 nations sign up, four groups of six will play each other. In this case, the top two teams in each group will progress to a quarter final and beyond. With greater numbers, an analogous group stage format will be used, and a round of sixteen will be utilised in tournaments with 26 members or more.

Knockouts will be seeded based on overall performance - the best performing team across all groups will face off against the 8th/16th best performing team across all groups, working inwards to create additional matchups. Team seeds will be swapped to avoid group stage rematches in the first knockout round if their matchup results in one. A full table and explanations will be given after the group stage.

Tiebreakers will be, in order, Points, Goal difference, Head-to-head result, IC coin flip/drawing of lots (OOCly, matches are scorinated using the RP bonus accrued by each nation).

RP BONUS AND SCORINATION:
Scorination will be performed in xkoranate 0.3.3 using the SQIS formula, with additive style modifiers. One matchday will aim to be scorinated every 48h, but I will be trying to complete the tournament by February, and therefore if the group stage ends up being egregiously long, one matchday may be scorinated every 24h for that portion of the tournament. A generous roster bonus will be provided, which will be worth up to 2 matchdays’ worth of RP bonus.

Cutoffs will aim to be between 21:00 - 22:00 UTC.

RP Prompts will be available on each matchday, but they will not provide any RP bonus, they will simply be there to spark the imagination.

Stadium happenings will have a chance to occur in matches where any nation does not have ‘Godmod other events’ set to N in their permissions.

IC INFORMATION:
Mertagne is a nation of (very) roughly 66 million people located on the continent of Calania, which is in Anaia. It’s a nation surrounded by some impressive footballing neighbours - five-time World Cup winners Starblaydia, many time semi-final losers Krytenia, and the Fulbo! bulwark of Huayramarca. Being surrounded by so many great footballing nations has actually rubbed off on Mertagne, as the nation commands a fairly respectable forty-something-th KPB ranking.

The nation, formed by a band of plucky pioneers fleeing war nearly one hundred years ago, has grown from strength to strength into a regional power. Tourism is alive and well in Mertagne, and while the Anaians have very recently come over to visit and will have likely trashed the place, Mertagne is still looking to entice those nations that are beginning their foray into WCC tournaments.

The nation has a plethora of stadiums with storied history and much character, that is sure to excite the fans and players alike of these fledgling sporting nations. As well as a full factbook to draw from, full IC information will be provided in the tournament thread, as well as information surrounding each stadium.

EXPERIENCE:
Mertagne has hosted the last two Baptisms of Fire, 78 alongside Farfadillis, and 79 alongside WCC President Ko-oren - to please my ego, I’m going for this third one on my own.

Mertagne is currently hosting the 5th edition of the CAFA Cup. Take a look at that to see how I manage a tournament solo. In hosting CAFA V, I have been reminded of a few things I can tighten up when hosting, and I aim to do so during BoF 80.
If these metrics aren't enough for you, I also hosted the 83rd Cup of Harmony, alongside Tumbra, and in the distant past, I hosted World Cup 66, which Eurans will say is the best one.

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PRE-EMPTIVE QUESTIONS
Why are you bidding for this solo? You're hardly up to the standard of QoD, who was the last person nation to run a solo BoF.*
Continuing with my string of WCC bids themed around "there's nothing in the constitution that says I can't do this", I feel confident enough to run this tournament myself. It is likely the numbers will be similar to a regional tournament, and having co-hosted the last two Baptisms of Fire, I believe I am a fair judge of this competition's RP.

Mertagne is a bit of a hole sometimes - what if participating nations don’t want to get involved in stadium happenings, but do want to godmod?
I’m not offended. As part of the example RP permissions box, an optional “Take part in stadium happenings: (Y/N)” option will be added. Rejecting this option will allow for a nation to be exempt from stadium happenings. Furthermore, nations are not obligated to accept or roleplay stadium happenings. Sometimes rumours can get the better of the populace.

Why did you pick these options on the scorinator?
SQIS is my favourite of the formulae - eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed I commonly bid with it. I believe that for an unranked tournament such as this, the use of SQIS (which is commonly accepted as a formula that is more likely to generate “upsets”) allows for a more interesting tournament. My priority of larger but fewer groups in this BoF aims to ensure that one bad result will not knock you out of the tournament in the group stage.

What if the newbie well dries up and you get very few competitors?
A smaller format with similar aims to this bid will be used. Few groups, longer group stage. I've answered something like this one before.

Why are you bidding to host BoF 80 when you've RPed that your new stadiums won't be finished until BoF 81? I cannot stand to see another game played at the Keers Dock Pitch, and don't even get me started on Spire Campus-
You can't rush progress. Who knows? Maybe I'll bid for BoF 81 as well and the shiny new stadiums can be used for that. Maybe we'll have a sneak peek exhibition match played between Mertagne and some 'team of the tournament' here in BoF 80 on the pitch before construction is complete. Maybe we'll be invaded by the Ochre Islands before then and all of this will be irrelevant. Only time will tell.

I welcome any further questions you have for me.

*Grainfjall is correct in that a single-user bid was successful for BoF 70, as Free Republics and Saintland, the hosts of that competition, were controlled by the same user.

[Graintfjall]

Why are you bidding for this solo? You're hardly up to the standard of QoD, who was the last person to run a solo BoF.

The last IC nation. The last person was FFR, who ran a tournament ICly co-hosted between Free Republics and Saintland, OOCly both his nations.

As for the merits of a solo bid I think there's a significant advantage in BoF where RP grading is the main factor, as it ensures a degree of consistency. The only thing with solo bids is there's no one to look over your shoulder and remind you you've made a mistake. Regionals/medium sport competitions e.g. IBC, WCoH, WBC, are commonly solo hosted and tend to be bigger and more complicated than BoFs. This being a solo bid wouldn't affect my vote.

And you certainly are "up to" my standard.

[Mertagne]

The last IC nation. The last person was FFR, who ran a tournament ICly co-hosted between Free Republics and Saintland, OOCly both his nations.

Of course! Edition 70. How could I forget! Sadly I can only juggle one nation at a time, so one nation is all you will get here.

[Independent Athletes from Quebec]

Thank you for the bid.

The bid overall covers all the OOC and IC grounds and possible RP opportunities in store for prospective participants. For one I am glad that the in-stadium happenings continue to make a comeback on your tournaments and will be the first on the line to tell you that.

Minor question: In the case where we see a very long group stage - let's say 22 team tournament, so 2 groups of 11 teams - would you consider using double scorination? I asked this because there has been a considerable increase in tournaments with the use of double scorination.

I have found the use of double scorination particularly useful in the case of an awkward number of teams like 22, which was what I had for RLWC, for example. This may also come handy in your situation, especially considering how actively you look to work with the eventual WC hosts, so there might be a situation where we may not exactly get the most workable number at times.

Please do note, however, that this question does not go against my faith and support in this bid. You know what you are doing after all.

[Mertagne]

In the case where we see a very long group stage - let's say 22 team tournament, so 2 groups of 11 teams - would you consider using double scorination?

This is a very good question, thank you for asking. In the event that we have some very large groups - 22 and 26 are key pitfalls I would be keen to avoid but may be unable to (as they would yield 2x11 and 2x13 respectively) - I would likely use double scorination. This would be announced well in advance, and in my opinion would work well to avoid participant burnout, as well as ensure the tournament does not overrun.

[Independent Athletes from Quebec]

My apologies for not saying this sooner, but thank you for your answer to my question.

I think you are as well prepared as you could be when it comes to such possibilities and if elected, will do an outstanding job.